Coronavirus Outbreak: Indians on Diamond Princess to be brought back

New Delhi : A total of 122 Indians who have been tested negative for coronavirus on the luxury cruise liner Diamond Princess off Japan coast will be brought back to India on Wednesday. They will be put into another quarantine facility for two weeks in Delhi.

Out of 3,711 passengers on board the luxury cruiser, 138 Indians were on board. 16 of the Indian passengers have been tested positive for coronavirus in the medical tests. All the patients were shifted to a hospital where their condition is being closely monitored, and reported to be improving.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian Embassy in Japan tweeted, "A chartered flight is being arranged to repatriate Indian nationals onboard Diamond Princess, provided they have (a) consented, (b) not tested positive for COVID19, (c) cleared by the medical team." 

This comes after the decision to move passengers out from the ship who had no signs and symptoms of coronavirus.

The Indian embassy had on Saturday said that Indians, who are still on board the ship, will be tested for the virus infection along with others after all the healthy passengers have disembarked. 

The Diamond Princess has been quarantined since February 3 after a passenger with high fever was found to be the carrier of the disease.